VALVE ANALYTICAL SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A rotary valve analytical system comprising:
- a rotor having a rotor face, the rotor being rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the rotor face, wherein the rotor face has a plurality of openings, each of which is disposed at a selected radial distance from the axis, and wherein the openings extend into the rotor to form syringe barrels;
a stator disposed coaxially with the rotor, the stator having a stator face in sealable, slidable rotary contact with the rotor face, wherein the stator face has a plurality of sets of openings each set of openings comprising a plurality of openings disposed at a common radial distance from the axis and each set of openings having common angular distances separating the plurality of openings therein, wherein the common radial distance of each set of openings in the stator face equals one or more of the selected radial distances of the openings in the rotor face, and wherein each opening extends as a passage through the stator to an outlet port;
a plurality of plungers, one of said plungers disposed within each of the syringe barrels of the rotor;
a syringe drive motor, mechanically coupled with the plungers and adapted to drive and withdraw the plungers within the syringe barrels;
a rotor drive motor mechanically coupled with the rotor and adapted to cause the rotor to rotate relative to the stator;
a plurality of inlet tubes, each inlet tube coupled with one of the outlet ports of the stator and adapted to deliver a fluid to the system;
a plurality of outlet tubes, each outlet tube coupled with one of the outlet ports of the stator, wherein at least one opening of each set of openings of the stator is coupled with one of the outlet tubes and at least one opening of each set of openings of the stator is coupled with one of the inlet tubes;
a mixer in fluid communication with each of the outlet tubes and adapted to mix fluid that enters the mixer from the outlet tubes;
a sensor in fluid communication with the mixer, adapted to perform a measurement on the mixed fluids.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A lab on a valve analytical system includes a rotary sample preparation assembly having a stator and a rotor. The rotor includes a plurality of integral syringe pumps which can be aligned with passages formed within the stator. The stator passages can be connected with fluid inlet connector which connect the sample preparation assembly with fluid sources, and fluid outlet connectors which connect the sample preparation assembly with one or more wet chemical analytical devices. Some embodiments can include a mixer and optical sensor connected with the fluid outlets. One or more drive motors can be used to control simultaneous actuation of one or more of the syringe pumps, thereby providing for simultaneous delivery of metered volumes of fluid.
29 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A rotary valve analytical system comprising:
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a rotor having a rotor face, the rotor being rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the rotor face, wherein the rotor face has a plurality of openings, each of which is disposed at a selected radial distance from the axis, and wherein the openings extend into the rotor to form syringe barrels; a stator disposed coaxially with the rotor, the stator having a stator face in sealable, slidable rotary contact with the rotor face, wherein the stator face has a plurality of sets of openings each set of openings comprising a plurality of openings disposed at a common radial distance from the axis and each set of openings having common angular distances separating the plurality of openings therein, wherein the common radial distance of each set of openings in the stator face equals one or more of the selected radial distances of the openings in the rotor face, and wherein each opening extends as a passage through the stator to an outlet port; a plurality of plungers, one of said plungers disposed within each of the syringe barrels of the rotor; a syringe drive motor, mechanically coupled with the plungers and adapted to drive and withdraw the plungers within the syringe barrels; a rotor drive motor mechanically coupled with the rotor and adapted to cause the rotor to rotate relative to the stator; a plurality of inlet tubes, each inlet tube coupled with one of the outlet ports of the stator and adapted to deliver a fluid to the system; a plurality of outlet tubes, each outlet tube coupled with one of the outlet ports of the stator, wherein at least one opening of each set of openings of the stator is coupled with one of the outlet tubes and at least one opening of each set of openings of the stator is coupled with one of the inlet tubes; a mixer in fluid communication with each of the outlet tubes and adapted to mix fluid that enters the mixer from the outlet tubes; a sensor in fluid communication with the mixer, adapted to perform a measurement on the mixed fluids. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for analyzing one or more characteristics of a use composition, the method comprising:
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providing a rotary valve analytical system comprising; a rotor having a rotor face, the rotor being rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the rotor face, wherein the rotor face has a plurality of openings, each of which extends into the rotor to form syringe barrels; a stator disposed coaxially with the rotor, the stator having a stator face in sealable, slidable, rotary contact with the rotor face, wherein the stator comprises a plurality of inlet passages and outlet passages passing therethrough, each inlet passage providing for fluid communication between a fluid source and an opening within the stator face, and each outlet passage providing for fluid communication between an opening within the stator face and a mixer line, wherein one or more of the fluid sources comprises a source of the use composition; a mixer having a plurality of inputs each in fluid communication with one of the mixer lines and an output in fluid communication with a sensor line; and a sensor coupled with the sensor line; rotating the rotor to a first position, such that the syringe barrels within the rotor are aligned with one or more of the inlet passages within the stator and the other openings within the stator face are sealed by the rotor face, wherein one or more of the aligned inlet passages are in fluid communication with the source of the use composition; simultaneously drawing fluid into each of the syringe barrels from the aligned inlet passages; rotating the rotor to a second position, such that each of the syringe barrels are aligned with one of the outlet passages and the other openings within the stator face are sealed by the rotor face; simultaneously driving fluid from the syringe barrels and through the aligned fluid outlet passages into the mixer lines; mixing the fluids in the mixer resulting in a sample mixture within the sensor line; measuring one or more properties of the sample mixture with the sensor, the properties being indicative of the one or more characteristics of the use composition; and determining the one or more characteristics of the use composition from the measurement. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A lab on a valve analytical system for determining a concentration of a peracid and a peroxide within a use composition, comprising:
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a valve assembly, comprising; a rotor having a rotor face and a plurality of syringe barrels extending into the rotor from openings in the rotor face, the rotor being rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the rotor face, a stator disposed coaxially with the rotor, the stator having a stator face in sealable, slidable, rotary contact with the rotor face and a plurality of groups of passages, each group of passages comprising a plurality of passages each of which extends through the stator from an opening on the stator face to a connector port, wherein each passage of the groups of passages is disposed at a common radial distance from the axis such that each group of passages can be aligned with at least one syringe barrel by rotating the rotor relative to the stator, and a plurality of syringe plungers, one of said syringe plungers disposed in each of the syringe barrels, each syringe plunger adapted to draw fluid into and drive fluid from the syringe barrel in which it is disposed, wherein one or more of the connector ports is in fluid communication with a source of the use composition, one or more of the connector ports is in fluid communication with a source of a reagent, and one or more of the connector ports is in fluid communication with a source of an acid; a mixer, in fluid communication with the connector port of one of the passages of each group of passages of the stator, the mixer adapted to produce a sample mixture comprising quantities of the use composition, the reagent, and the acid; and a sensor in fluid communication with the mixer, the sensor adapted to measure one or more properties of the sample mixture indicative of the concentration of the peracid and the concentration of the peroxide within the use composition. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification